Need a regimen/routine for the range

A

azonicdh

Inactive
I usually go to my indoor range every other week and shoot about 150 rounds (9mm, .45ACP, .38/.357) at standard B-27 targets and use about 200 rounds my 10/22 at only 25yds (indoor max). When I shoot, I'll normally switch caliber/gun after each clip/mag and adjust the distance/target.

Can anyone suggest a regimen/guideline that will help me become a better shooter. For me, it's like going the the gym, where I like to stick to a routine and not switch around.
 
It depends on what you want to accomplish, and what you CAN accomplish at your range. If there are a bunch of folks at the range, or I'm shooting in a restrictive environment, I'll focus strictly on developing accuracy. If I have the run of the place, or options to do more, I'll throw in other elements as well. Fortunately, I can go to a range that allows me more freedom than most ranges.

A typical range session will consist of some of the following with the end goal of developing either precision accuracy, or accuracy and speed.

Accuracy development focusing on developing and maintaining the fundamentals. I ALWAYS do some accuracy work as I am a FIRM believer in the fundamentals.
1. Dry fire x 5
-Dry fire done between live rounds should my groups start to suck x as needed.
2. Live fire grouping
-grouping done every range trip. no time limit. groups as tight as possible.
- 7M (5 rounds)
- 10M (5-10 rounds)
- 15M (5-10 rounds)
- 20M (5-10 rounds)
- 25M (5-10 rounds)
-grouping done on a rotating basis
-offhand grouping
- Same as above
- 8" steel plate shooting
- 25M out to as far back as I can hit :)
3. Live fire speed development
- shot strings / rhythm drill on 8" IDPA target
- 7-10M (3 x 5 round strings per as fast as I can keep em' in target)
- target transitions
- 7-10M (2 rounds on 2 targets x 4 per range as fast as I can)
- steel plate rack ( as fast as I can out to 25M)
- Shooting from the draw
- on paper various ranges
- on steel plates
4. Stage practice (various)
- focus on areas of weakness found in competition
- enter/exit shooting positions, mag changes, alt firing positions, etc
5. Defensive shooting (rotating schedule)
-from concealment
-close defensive ranges / retention


EDIT:

One of the easiest things you can do to improve your accuracy is to decrease the size of your target. Use SMALL targets to develop accuracy, and increase the size with either distance or speed. I use 1" out to 7M, 2" x 2" at 10, and 4" x 4" out to 25M. While I may not necessarily keep the entire string in the target, small targets lead to greater precision, and greater precision requires greater application of the fundamentals, which is what it's all about. The correct application of the fundamentals will enhance your ability to fire accurately FAST, and while under stress.
 
Last edited:
Like the Singlestack said using smaller targets helps. It's one thing to use outline targets for short range rapid fire self defense drills. But when just going for accuracy and trigger/muscle/breath control.... I actually just save myself a lot of money and staple up plain white notecards. I will put up 6 at a time, spaced out, and do slow fire 5 round strings.... I do not lower my weapon between shots... I do not take a lot of time between shots... I just get my sight picture, slowly squeeze.... recover... get my sight picture... slowly squeeze.

You will be amazed at your groups on the small notecards only after a short practice period, and transitioning to rapid fire on a large man sized target, makes you feel like your shooting at the side of a barn and can't miss.:rolleyes:
 
Something I learned at FrontSight this month was two-fold. I took their 4 day defensive handgun course and one thing they STRESSED was

_HARD_ focus on the front sight.

The other thing I learned was to see the sights and to do that I brought the gun in CLOSE to fire the shot. So close that I rested my left upper arm on my rib cage with the left hand gripping the front of my right hand. This put the gun (1911) close to my eye and made it easy to put the front sight between the blades of the rear sight. I still had about 3 inches clearance when the slide came back so I was in no danger of hitting my glasses with it.

As a newbie pistol shooter, I was scoring with the best of the group (hitting most of those 3x5 cards mentioned - the kill zone when taking a head shot), some of whom were pretty darn good and I earned one of the 6 distinguished awards that were given out in the class of 25 shooters.
 
To become a better shooter...

It's hard to say what you need since you didn't really give enough info.

But here's a shot:
So you are doing a lot of things.... multiple calibers, guns and switching from long guns to handguns too with relatively low round counts on each.

How good of a shooter are you? Meaning what are your groupings at say 21 feet with your favorite gun? How fast are you shooting? Are you like a bullseye shooter that can take 1-3 minutes per shoot or 1-5 seconds apart?

Some things since this is very vague - you may want to keep the target close 10-15 feet and stick with one gun for a bit.

Lastly, I would recommend finding an firearms instructor to see what you are doing so they can give you pointers to improve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top